Learning is elementary at Arlington's new Thompson School

When soon-to-be third-grader Ben Resnick saw his new school for the first time at an open house on Thursday, his eyes were immediately drawn to the floor.

Spencer Buell/sbuell@wickedlocal.com

When soon-to-be third-grader Ben Resnick saw his new school for the first time at an open house on Thursday, his eyes were immediately drawn to the floor.

"I like how it’s all different colors and swirly," he said, taking in the whimsical blues, greens and reds of the Thompson Elementary School’s brand new foyer.

All around him, parents and children walking through the front door were equally impressed, craning their necks back to take in the multicolored glass panels on the second floor, the giant jelly bean-shaped window behind the reception desk, the big yellow pineapple statue on the roof and, yes, the swooping patterns on the rubber floor.

When construction on the new building on Everett Street began last summer, Superintendent Kathleen Bodie said its designers wanted the school to inspire its young students and get them excited to learn.

"When students come in here, the kids have just been bowled over by how beautiful it is and how interesting it is," Bodie said. "I think the word that comes up is joy. It’s a very joyful school."

In the construction phase, students had to be split up and sent to other schools - kindergarten to second grade to Stratton and third through fifth to Hardy. A small group of fifth-graders also went to Bishop.

So parents said they are looking forward to moving their kids back to North Union Street once again.

"It has been a little hard for everyone to be scattered," said Julia Kelahan, whose daughter Nuala Kilroy is also starting third grade. "It’ll be nice to hang out before and after school and see all the families we didn’t get to while we were all spread out."

On a tour of the school earlier this month, Bodie pointed out some of Thompson’s most notable new features – the equipment and educational theories, she said, are on the cutting edge.

Tablet technology

As part of a new push to use technology in the classroom, teachers this year will be supplementing their lessons more than ever with tablet computers. Thompson will be a "one-to-one" school, meaning that for the first time in the Arlington school system, there will be an iPad for every child.

Every classroom has been fitted with a smart projector powered by Apple TV software, which teachers can control via their own iPads, projecting educational apps and group activities on special low-gloss whiteboards. Teachers have been training with the tablets for a year or more, and were taking seminars on how to use software applications in the library this summer.

"We’re looking for it not to become a curriculum in and of itself, but to support the curriculum that’s here," said Thompson Principal Sheri Donovan, likening the use of tablets to a more high tech version of making crafts or posters or playing tactile games. "It’s just fancy equipment for what we’ve been doing for years and years and years."

Outdoor experience important

At the same time, the new building was designed to get students outside.

On the ground floor, every kindergarten class comes with an adjoining outdoor play area fenced in by a specially designed wooden bench, and every grade will be assigned a rectangular garden plot built behind the school to supplement science and ecology lessons.

Because the new school was essentially built on top of the old one, the park next door - with its green space, black top, sandbox and playgrounds - remained untouched. In addition, a pair of fenced-in, age-specific jungle gyms has been built - one for kindergarteners through second-graders, the other for third- through fifth-graders.

Hot meal hub

The kitchen, too, is stocked with all-new equipment, including enormous walk-in freezers and fridges and a dry food pantry, as well as ovens and stove ranges built to handle the high volume of food that passes through it.

Thompson will again serve as the hub for hot meals at all of Arlington’s elementary schools, as it did before the old school closed - lunches will be prepped there, then sent out in trucks via a loading dock strategically built next to the kitchen.

"It’s really designed to be a state-of-the-art educational facility," said Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine.

The new building is a huge improvement on its more than 50-year-old predecessor, which was demolished in 2011 to make room for the new one, Bodie said. Opened in 1956, the old Thompson was plagued by a leaky roof and outdated heating system, and the town decided that the cost of maintaining the aging building outpaced the cost of rebuilding long-term.

The rebuild cost about $20 million, half of which was funded through the Massachusetts School Building Authority. Bodie said the school secured additional state money by choosing sustainable construction methods and fixtures.

The project came in "pretty significantly under budget," with about $400,000 unspent in a contingency fund, Chapdelaine said, crediting good management and oversight from project managers, architects and the Thompson School Building Committee.

Due mostly to the cost, the choice was made not to install air conditioning in the classrooms, but only in the faculty and administrative officers. If officials had known the project would come in so far under budget, they might have installed it, Bodie said. There is still a chance they will install air conditioning in the future, she said.

While Donovan is excited about the brand new facility, she said she is mainly looking forward to another school year at Thompson.

"I think it’s less about the building and more about just having your neighborhood school back," Donovan said. "There will be a lot of celebrations this year and a lot of gatherings – not for fundraising, just for the pure joy of being together. It’s a very strong community and it’s a very diverse community, and that’s what people are talking about."

The school officially opens with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 15.

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